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▌Growing Concerns over Water Shortage for Irrigation Use
At the time of Hachitayoichi’s proposal of constructing Guantian River
Reservoir/Canal Project (i.e. Chia-Nan Canal), he had already known that
the water supply of Wushantou Reservoir was incapable of meeting the
water needs of Chia-Nan Plain. Therefore, at the time of constructing
Chia-Nan Canal, he announced that the Three-Year-Crop-Rotation policy
had to be implemented. The so-called “Three-Year-Crop-Rotation” refers
to growing rice, sugarcane, and grains in turns every 3 years. As
sugarcane and grain planting does not require much water, there is no
need for full water sully every year. During the Japanese Colonial
Period, the local government and the police reinforced control on the
Three-Year-Crop-Rotation. Therefore, the water supply from the canal was
sufficient. ▌Pai-Ho Reservoir Construction
In 1961, Water Resources Bureau, Taiwan constructed Pai-Ho Reservoir at the up-stream of Pai-Ho River. The engineering project cost about NT$250,000,000. Chia-Nan Irrigation Association shouldered 1/3 of the expenditure while Taiwan Water Corporation, Taiwan Sugar Corporation, and HSinying Paper Mill shouldered the rest of the 1/3. Pai-Ho Reservoir was completed in 1965. The total water storage capacity is 25,000,000 cubic meters. Other than the added 900- hectare area for rice cultivation, over 4,000 hectares of rice will receive water supply from the reservoir. Other than providing water for irrigation, the reservoir also provides water for daily use in HSinying, and Yen Shuei. It also supplies water to HSinying Sugar Corporation, Wushulin Sugar Corporation, HSinying By-product Processing Co., and HSinying Paper Mill for cooling use.
Bird’s Eye View of Pai-Ho Reservoir Extracted from Tainan County Pai-Ho Town Agriculture Association Website
▌Zenwun Reservoir Construction
Zenwun River is situated in southern Taiwan. It is the fourth largest river in Taiwan measuring 138.5km with an area of 1176.7 square kilometers. The average annual flow is 1,600,000,000 cubic meters. Toward the end of Japanese rule, Hachitayoichi once recommended that a reservoir be constructed at Liutangtan of Zenwun River to increase water supply. However, after the war broke out, the reservoir construction was put on hold. After the World War II, the irrigation water sources became scarce, so, the Water Resources Bureau of Taiwan began reservoir planning for Zenwun River. Finally, Liutangtan was selected just as Hachitayoichi would have wanted.
The reservoir broke ground in October, 1967, and was completed in October, 1973. The construction cost NT$5,500,000,000 in total, and the effective water storage capacity is close to 600,000,000 cubic meters. It is 5.7-fold the capacity of Wushantou Reservoir. After the reservoir was completed, 78,000 hectares of farmlands started receiving water from it for irrigation purposes. Among which, 30,000 hectares were new irrigation areas. Other than the added irrigation area, farmlands that receive water from Zenwun Reservoir were able to switch the Three-Year-Crop-Rotation to the 2-year crop rotation. In other words, they were able to plant rice more twice as frequent as they used to. In addition, the construction of Zenwun Reservoir greatly increased the tap water usage rate in Chiayi and Taiwan area. Also, water supply for factory use also increased. Till today, Zenwun Reservoir is still the largest reservoir in Taiwan.
Bird’s Eye View of Zenwun Reservoir Extracted from Tainan County
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▍Hsin Chia Elementary School ˙Houbi Township, Tainan County , Taiwan (R.O.C.)˙2008˙1024*768 |
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Canal Construction》Construction of a New Reservoir 
You can 》》